Barbara B. Kahn

Kahn is a world leader in diabetes research, who has elucidated cellular mechanisms by which obesity leads to type 2 diabetes. Her discovery that low expression of the major insulin-regulated glucose-transporter in adipocytes impairs insulin action in muscle and liver was fundamental to establishing the fat cell as a "master-regulator" of systemic insulin-sensitivity. She also demonstrated that an evolutionarily conserved cellular "fuel gauge" has critical actions in the brain and peripheral tissues to regulate energy balance and adiposity, and most recently discovered a novel class of anti-diabetic signaling lipids that are tightly linked to protection against diabetes in people.